1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera rotating apparatus of a portable terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a camera has been provided on a portable terminal such as a mobile phone.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional folder type mobile phone where a camera 20 is fixedly mounted on a main body case 10. FIG. 2 shows another conventional folder type mobile phone where a battery 40 is coupled to a rear portion of a main body case 10 and a camera 20 is fixedly mounted above the battery 40 on the rear portion of the main body case 10. FIG. 3 shows still another conventional mobile phone where a camera 20 is rotatably installed on a hinge portion 30 formed on a main body case 10. FIGS. 4 and 5 show a conventional slide type mobile phone where upper and lower cases 11 and 12 of a main body case 10 are designed to slide up and down and a camera 20 is installed on the upper case 11. FIG. 6 shows a conventional slide type mobile phone where upper and lower cases 11 and 12 of a main body case 10 are designed to slide up and down and a camera 20 is installed on the upper case 11 to be capable of rotating about a hinge portion.
For the folder type mobile phones that are depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, since the cameras are fixed on the folder, they cannot provide a self-camera function.
For the rotating camera depicted in FIG. 3, it is inconvenient to rotate a front case of the folder. Furthermore, due to the size limitation of the hinge portion, it is difficult to mount a high definition camera module. In addition, since the camera module is one-sided in a direction due to the hinge structure, the object focusing is one-sided when the user takes a picture.
For the slide type camera illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, it can provide the self-camera function. However, when it is in a slide-up state, it cannot provide the self-camera function. For the slide type camera depicted in FIG. 6, since the camera module is one-sided due to the hinge structure, the object focusing is also one-sided during the self-photographing.
That is, in the conventional portable terminals with the camera, the camera is generally mounted on the front, rear, or top of the main body. However, these structures make it difficult to accurately adjust the focus when the user takes a picture. Furthermore, in some cases, it is difficult to take the self-photographing.